40 national tchoukball players for S’wak Open C’ship
SIBU: A total of 14 teams, including one from Singapore, will take part in the 3rd edition of the Sarawak Open Tchoukball Championship to be held at MyCentre here from Sept 1 to 3.
Sarawak Tchoukball Association (STA) chairman Hii Chang Kee expressed satisfaction over the big number of 130 players competing in the tournament.
Forty of them are national players.
“This indicates that the sport is growing in popularity among the younger generation here as it is good in character building and enhance discipline,” he said at the press conference yesterday morning.
Also present were STA deputy chairman Rev Kiew Tie Siong, secretary Eric Wong, event organising chairman Sii Toh Leong and STA committee member Tang Sin Onn.
For the first time the championship is divided into three categories - Boy’s and Girl’s U-12, Boy’s and Girl’s U-17 and Men’s and Women’s Open.
“We used to have two categories in the past two editions and due to the demand, we decided to host the U-17 category to build on the excitment of the championship,” Hii explained.
The four teams for the U-12 category are Destiny For Children Tchoukball School team, SJK Chung Hua Tchoukball Team A and B and MyCentre Tchoukball Club.
The U-17 competition has attracted six teams namely MyCentre Club A and B, Destiny For Children team, The BBM 8th Kuching Company, The Knight Tchoukball Club from Malacca and Singapore Training Squad team.
MyCentre, MPI team A and B and The Knight Club are the four teams in the Open competition.
The championship will serve as a platform to select players to represent the country in the Asia Pacific Tchoukball Championship next July, Hii said.
He also highlighted the positive attributes of the sport particularly the minimal violence and body contact.
The sport is already officially recognised by the Ministry of Youth and Sport, he revealed, and the next step is to get the endorsement from the Education Ministry as a school extracurricular activity.
The championship, jointly organised by STA, MyCentre and Methodist Pilley Institute, is sponsored by design4u and Malaysia Tchoukball Asociation (MTBA).
SMC chairman Datuk Tiong Thai King is expected to officially open the event on Sept 9 at 2pm while Hii will officiate the closing ceremony at 4pm on Sept 3.